more than just cookies

Terry and I had dinner with our friends Heather and Matt last night. We always have a great time when we get together: good food, good wine, lots of laughs and animated conversation. After we ate, Heather showed me a recent find from the local flea market - a 1959 copy of "The Girl Scout Handbook". I was never a Girl Scout, but I found it fascinating to be leafing through a book filled with rules and guidelines for the proper conduct of young ladies who were. There was a section on famous American women, there were tips about how to handle gossip-y situations, there was even a chapter on arts and crafts. I liked the paragraph entitled "Drawing and Painting" so much that I wrote it down (and now here it is, straight from page 118):

"Through drawing and painting you can talk to people all over the world and be understood. You paint a picture to say something about the way you feel. It is like writing a letter or telling a story, but you do it with color, form and line."

The simplicity and accuracy of these words really struck me. I wonder how many Girl Scouts over the years have gotten inspiration from those sentences...

putting-it-all-together

I had so much fun in New York! The "Putting-It-All-Together" show at climate/gallery was amazing and I'm so happy that I was involved. The opening reception was totally packed and there was a lot of really incredible artwork on display; plus, the thrill of having my work hanging in a place with a view of the New York City skyline was something I will always remember. Thank you, Julia, for sharing it with me, and thank you, Alley and Bill, for surprising me at the gallery with your smiling faces. My only regret is that I didn't take more pictures!

i want to be a part of it...

I am in a show that opens this week and I am very excited about it. The show is entitled "Putting-It-All-Together: Collage, Montage, and Assemblage", and it's at climate/gallery in Long Island City, New York. This is the first all-collage show I've been in, so that will be a new experience for me; additionally, it's in New York and that's where I'm originally from, so that makes it exciting too. (If you're reading this and you'd like further details, please check the "shows" page on my website: www.brushstrokesbymaria.com.) I just hope the weather is clear for my trip there and back!

one day, i'll figure this out...

I wanted to re-post this link with all of my collage photos (so far)...I noticed the last few times I've posted new work, it's just been of the new images (rather than the link to where all the images are). I am still new to this blogging thing...

http://picasaweb.google.com/brushstrokesbymaria/BrushstrokesByMaria?authkey=Gv1sRgCPupwMaqi6y-0QE&feat=directlink

oops! i forgot one!

Okay, the last post technically had only 4 collages..."Your Secrets Are Safe With Me" is photographed twice, once with the box closed and once with the box open. The spot where you can upload photos only allows you to choose five images at a time and I mistakenly left out "Discover The Divine Goddess In You," so without further ado, here it is!

five new collages

I have five new collages to share! I finished two of them in December ("Humble Beauty" and "Namaste") but just didn't post them until now; the other three ("Words of Wisdom", "Your Secrets Are Safe With Me" and "Discover The Divine Goddess In You") were started and finished this month. I'm having a lot of fun with collage and I think it shows.

thank you agnes

I want to take a moment to say thank you to a woman I never knew but who has had a significant impact on my life. Her name is Agnes Peterson. Agnes was the little old lady who used to live in my house. She owned this house for a long time and when she went into a nursing home in the summer of '99, it went up for rent and we moved in; three years later, Agnes passed away and we bought the place.

I was never crazy about Agnes' taste or sense of style: the pale pink and robin's egg blue paint on the walls, the hideous floral wallpaper, the bathroom with the plastic pink "tile" paired with the pink wallpaper with little white hearts, the dark wood paneling in the kitchen. Thankfully, this past summer we finally made the house our own and all of those things are either gone or have been transformed.

At any rate, there are still little bits and pieces of Agnes and her legacy left behind in this little house, and I am finding myself increasingly grateful for them. Now that I have started working with collage, I have found a virtual treasure trove of goodies in the garage and the basement, courtesy of Agnes Peterson: rusty hinges, big old shingle nails, screws and hardware of all shapes and sizes, and perhaps the best of all, a giant Sanka jar filled with beautiful sea glass. I use these ingredients in my collages all the time and every time I do, I think of the woman I never knew. I wonder what she must have been like. Was she artsy? Did she make things? Every year a postcard comes addressed to her advertising a Maine craft festival, so she must have had at least an appreciation for art.

Several years ago, I found a Post-it note attached to a bird identification poster in the garage. It was faded and worn, with "old lady" handwriting in blue ballpoint ink. I read it and immediately saved it; now it's hanging in my studio. It says, "Note: use what talents you possess, for the woods would be silent if no birds sang but the best." I look at this note all the time and it inspires me. It's a nice reminder to keep trying, to keep creating, to keep finding and using my own artistic voice, to express myself in a genuine way and to be true to myself. Thank you, Agnes. Thank you for the supplies, thank you for the inspiration, and thank you for the pep talk...and by the way, thank you for the house.